Tabby and the Acolytes
by Muria
Summary: Imagine Magneto contacting the Brotherhood boys before Mystique after the events of Cauldron. Imagine Tabby not getting a chance to leave the Brotherhood. Imagine Wanda being brainwashed earlier. Now, imagine the X-Men not knowing... in time.
1. Chapter 1

Yes, I've edited this again. I'm going to try to get the third chapter up today... it just has to be written first. At the least, the first two chapters should be slightly better now.

* * *

The Brotherhood Boarding House lay in disarray; discarded trash littered the floor at random, once intact furniture tilted half-hazardly, walls were dented and stained with miscellaneous substances, closet doors opened on half-broken hinges.

Beyond this normalcy, the kitchen seemed to be in an unusual state of calm; the counter lacked food and dishes, the floor lacked spills, and the cabinet lacked its usual supply of soft drinks. Those missing sodas somehow, despite all efforts from Lance to forbid the act, vanished down Pietro's throat. The resulting energy rush accounted for the clean kitchen.

Yet, the speed demon couldn't possibly be entertained so easily with cleaning for more than a few seconds. Nor could the Brotherhood's explosion extraordinaire- who, frankly, never cleaned anything at all.

Tabby leaned against the door frame, absently toying with a handful of glowing cherry bombs. She glanced across the room to Pietro and shared a smirk. At 2 AM, none were awake to witness or divert their plans. Perhaps, if Lance had known, he would have protected the youngest member of the Brotherhood. Surely Freddy would have defended their hapless victim. But, both snored on upstairs.

Somehow, Todd Tolansky had fallen asleep on the den couch, unnoticed by the 'responsible' members of the Brotherhood, and remained that way through the first half of the night. Unfortunately for him, his once peaceful location lay directly in the path of a caffeine-high Quicksilver and a bored Boom-Boom. As Todd mumbled in his sleep, curling slightly from cold, Tabby's smirk grew, and Pietro vanished momentarily to return with spray cans proclaiming 'Sky Blue' around its girth.

So it began, and so normally, too.

"Blue?" Tabby mouthed, "Like Elf-boy Blue?" The speed demon nodded, a grin approaching malevolence on his pale features.

Boom-Boom laughed, "I like." Grinning, she took one of the many cans, shaking it quietly while Pietro vanished once more for more 'supplies.'

* * *

By morning, Todd found himself dangling from the school flag pole, wearing only a pair of sweatpants, baring blue skin to the world of gawking teenagers and a suspicious handful of snickering staff. Below him, Pietro and Tabby grinned.

Pietro mock-saluted. Beside him, Tabby announced, "It's modern art- Bayville High should be so proud to be see it!" She took up the mock-salute.

Pietro laughed, "Obviously the product of the creative genius of the brilliant Pietro Maximoff, namely myself, and the shocking ideas of the lovely Tabby Smith!"

Todd blurrily looked around him. For a moment, his situation did not register.

Then, he yelped, "Guys! This isn't funny, yo! Let me down!"

"But, you're our masterpiece, Todd! Everyone wants to see you." Tabby grinned up at him, gesturing to the crowd behind her. That group mixed jock and prep, geek and nerd, goth and punk, the several students yet to fall prey to a clique, and teachers in a wonderful phenomenon of unity never seen before. Among those stood the shocked X-Men, some of whom began to snicker while the others looked back for the rest of the Brotherhood.

Jean sighed in relief when she caught sight of them. Far behind the gawking crowd, running from the parking lot, Lance and Fred arrived, staring at their missing companions.

Oblivious to the coming aid, Todd continued to try to reason with the guilty duo. "This ain't funny, yo! Let me down!" His panicking only served to tangle him worse, setting his thin body to swaying overhead. The air began to grow heavy with laughter.

Tabby grinned openly. Pietro smirked.

At last reaching them, Freddy stomped forward, glaring at the duo, and began to mess with the ropes suspending his friend.

"Freddy careful," Lance cautioned, "You don't know what you're doing-"

"Ye-aahhhhhhhh," burst from Todd as the rope gave way, and he plummeted towards the ground, only to land, mostly unharmed, on the Blob. Concerned and unfazed, Freddy pulled his friend off his shoulder and set him carefully on his feet.

"You okay?"

A numb nod responded from the blank-eyed boy.

Sighing, Lance steered the two away from the crowd toward the bathroom, muttering, "And they wonder why I actually go to school… Gets me away from them for a while…" He looked to the distraught freshman, "Don't worry, Todd. I'm sure that stuff'll wash off."

Todd bit his lip, "There's no way they're gonna forget this one, yo."

Freddy shook his head while glowering at the students who hesitated from clearing a path for them, or, worse, dared snicker when he could see their faces. "Everyone'll forget it by tomorrow."

Back in the crowd, Jean looked around, "Class is about to start. Go on! There's nothing happening now." Slowly, teenagers obeyed the popular girl. With a start, the teachers began to mime her words, determinedly pretending they hadn't been rubbernecking with everyone else.

Meanwhile Scott took control of the X-Men with a barked, "Evan! Kurt! Let's go!"

Distracted as everyone was, noone noticed the troublesome duo of the Brotherhood double back to the parking lot.

* * *

Congratulating themselves on a prank well pulled, the restless duet skipped school, blatantly stealing Lance's jeep with a quick hotwiring compliments of Tabby. After a 'dull' hour of cruising, read as 'scaring pedestrians and outrunning both cops and vigilantes,' they jerked into a back-alley. Graffiti sprawled harsh words across the brick walls, trash overflowed the dumpsters, and a handful of thugs smirked at the two, beginning to plot a theft.

Ignoring the danger, Pietro smirked, "Well,-what-do-you-think? Will-it-work?"

"Duh," Tabby gestured grandly around her, "This is perfect! The cops won't find us here, but we can have some fun." She glanced to the men watching her, "And we have unreliable witnesses to make it even better!"

At that, she gathered a handful of cherry bombs, tossing them carelessly into the alley. Startled yelps answered as they exploded a little too close to the would-be muggers. But, they didn't retreat quite yet.

Seeing this, Pietro huffed and zipped past, beginning a tornado to scare them off only to jump back from an explosion inches from where he'd stood.

"Tabby! What-gives?" But, his ire faded as he turned, eyes shifting from the confused girl to the shadows behind her. Tabby hesitantly followed his gaze to see a trench coat garbed man calmly leaning against a dumpster, a glowing card dangling from his fingers.

Pietro choked, face a shade or two paler than normal, "Gambit?"

"Hey, _garcon_" the Cajun smiled lazily, "I have a message for you."

Unnoticed by the trio of mutants, the thugs fled, babbling senselessly of magic and a demon.

"A message?" Pietro whispered nervously.

"From your _pere_, Pietro. Magneto's got a job for you."

Shock marred Tabby's face, and she didn't think before she spoke. "Magneto's your dad?"

Amused, Gambit turned on her, red eyes gleaming, "You didn't know, _fille_? Does any of the Brotherhood know, Pietro? No matter. But, I don't remember you," He smirked at Tabby, "Did Mystique recruit you?"

"No, I-" She stopped short as Pietro clamped his hand over her mouth.

"She-did,-but-indirectly,-you-see!" The speed demon slurred, "Mystique-sent-Lance-to-talk-to-Tabby-when-she-just-got-into-town-"

Pietro froze, eyes fixed on the glowing card balanced on his nose. Hand extended lazily, barely holding the explosion-in-waiting still, Remy murmured, "Don't lie if you're that bad at it, _garcon_. So, Tabby, Lance talked to you, probably after Mystique left?"

"I never met Mystique." Tabby huffed, preparing to continue speaking only for Gambit to cut her off.

"Good. Mystique's decided to go solo. It's been a real joy to be around Magneto when he's in that mood." He rolled his eyes, faux harmless as he smiled at the girl. "But, a new recruit may change his mind. Of course, _fille_, he needs to meet you."

Calm as ever, he released Pietro from the danger of explosion, pulling the card away, the charge vanishing as Gambit casually slipped the paper back into his trench coat. Pietro sagged back in relief.

"_Garcon_, if you'll get the rest of the Brotherhood back into shape and inform them of their renewed allegiance, Magneto'll be pleased. If not, I take your place as field leader." Before the teens could register what had happened, Remy snatched Tabby by the arm and pushed Pietro back into Lance's jeep, watching the boy fall painfully over the door into the driver's seat. "Get to work, _garcon_, and I'll bring Tabby back when Magneto's decided where to put her."

Possibly from his background as a thief, possibly from the duo's shock, Gambit kidnapped Tabby, vanishing into the shadows while Pietro sat dazed in the jeep, without resistance from either one.

When the speed demon finally realized what had happened, he winced, jolting to start the car and find his friends. He missed the passing "_Au revoir,_" as he sped away, oblivious to Gambit's remaining presence and the recovering Tabby's anger. Perfectly aware of his actions, the thief produced a slim container, maneuvered it under her nose as she started to speak, and caught the explosive mutant when she fainted.

"Chloroform does wonders, doesn't it, _fille_?" he asked the comatose girl as he slid her over his shoulder and headed back to Magneto.

* * *

**Translations… (very basic- I don't speak French. The letters are what English uses, because that's all I can figure out to do. Any corrections are welcome, just please be nice about it.)**

**Garcon- boy**

**Fille- girl**

**Pere- father**

**Au revoir- goodbye**


	2. Chapter 2

It's been edited. Slight improvements may result, or it may be unnoticed.

Honestly, I need to thank XxXFairyQueenXxX for reminding me to update.

Comments, criticism, and corrections are welcome.

* * *

Tabby stirred, blinking at the metal room around her. The walls slid into focus, their silver sheen glinting in the overhead light. Cold furniture stood like sentries about the floor, chairs and tables transforming the area into a metallic parody of a waiting room. In the doorway, an armored man stood speaking with the Cajun that had kidnapped her.

Thoroughly annoyed, Tabby leapt to her feet, subconsciously forming cherry bombs in her fists. "Hey! What's going on?"

Magneto smirked before molding his features into a paternal smile, "You're awake, Tabitha?"

"Obviously! But, that doesn't tell me what's going on."

Patiently, Magneto spoke, subtly watching her explosives. "I was certain that Gambit told you that you needed an interview."

"To stay with the Brotherhood? They haven't needed anyone before, they don't need you now. I don't take orders from anyone." Tabby stood a yard from the men, glaring, despite her awareness of the fact that both were trained and experienced mutants far stronger than her.

"Not to stay with the Brotherhood, Tabitha." Magneto shook his head, extending a hand to the girl's shoulder, a grip she found too heavy to shrug off, "To join the Acolytes."

"The… Acolytes?" Shock stilled her as she just stared at him.

"Of course, the Acolytes, _fille_." Gambit smiled at her, laughing, "That's what old Remy's part of. They're the best of the best."

"And you want me?" Tabby's eyes hardened, and she ducked out of Magneto's grip, tossing her handful of cherry bombs. "No thanks. I've had too much of people trying to run my life."

The bombs exploded harmlessly against Magneto's armor. He only smiled at her as the floor beneath her moved, "I guess this will be difficult then, Tabitha." And then, she had nothing left to stand on and fell into the room below.

"Remy thinks this might be tough, Magneto. The _fille_ is a stubborn one."

Unfazed, Magneto replied, "All things worth having are difficult to obtain. I should have known Mystique sided with me too easily. The rest took far more persuasion."

Smirking the thief quirked, "Should Remy get a raise, then, so it won't be too easy?"

The Master of Magnetism gave the Cajun a dry look, "Your pay's high enough. Dealing with you is always a challenge as it is."

* * *

Tabby landed safely, despite the hard metal of the room, primarily due to landing in the arms of a rather surprised St. John. For a moment, both could only stare. Around that interesting scene, Sabertooth and Colossus stopped in the middle of their training to gawk at the girl who fell from the ceiling.

"Hey, mates," Pyro murmured, "Did you know that there was a sheila here?"

Sabertooth moved forward, growling, "No, there shouldn't be. Who are you, girl?"

Tabby met his eyes defiantly, "Blame thief-boy and metal-man. I didn't want to be here." She shifted her gaze to St. John, "Now, can you put me down?"

"Thief-boy and metal-man…" Pyro smiled, laughter in his eyes, "You mean Gambit and Magneto, right?"

Wrinkling her nose, Tabby grinned, "But my names fit them better."

Surprisingly quiet, Piotr crossed the room, now sans armor, "Gambit brought you here?"

"Yeh, he knocked me out and dragged me here. Why else would I be here?" She cocked her head up at him, blonde hair bobbing, "And, where is here?"

"The training room." Three voices responded, one gruff, one laughing, and one calm.

Finally righting herself, Tabby slipped from St. John's grip. "Fine. I'll leave as soon as I can find the door."

Snatching her arm, Sabertooth pulled her back, ignoring her startled yelp of pain, "You're not going anywhere until Magneto lets you go."

"Victor!" Piotr's eyes widened, the large man uncomfortably reaching out towards the girl, "Careful! You're hurting her!"

"Yeh, mate," St. John carefully tried to pry Sabertooth's hand away from Tabby's arm, only to jump back as the other hand fisted and the man snarled.

None of them noticed Tabby gathering her cherry bombs until they exploded in Sabertooth's face. They froze at the comically charred appearance of the man's hair.

"Don't mess with me, Catman."

"It's Sabertooth." Piotr corrected vainly, utterly ignored by the speaking girl.

"I may not be as strong as you, but you can't stop my bombs." With that, she stretched, arms twisting above her head, tossing another handful at the wildman.

Before Victor could attack her, he found himself restrained by Colossus, face-to-face with a fire dragon, and standing in a pile of bombs.

"She's just a young girl, Victor." Piotr reasoned while St. John smiled at Tabby. "She's been kidnapped, and she's surely frightened and confused."

"We're gonna have fun, sheila! Who are you?"

"Tabby, but call me Boom-Boom." She laughed as she exploded a new crop of bombs over their heads, much to Pyro's delight.

"St. John Allerdyce. But it's Pyro here!"

* * *

In the room above them, Magneto and Gambit stared at the floor, listening to the incessant and increasing explosions and shouts.

"Magneto, Remy thinks this might have been a bad idea."

"I suppose that… we'll just see what's become of Tabitha Smith."

Remy cast him a funny look. "Really? Remy was thinking about Piotr and Victor. They almost sound like they're dying down there… As if that Aussie wasn't bad enough alone."

A reverberating yowl promising death to a firebug and a girl echoed throughout the base, accompanied by Piotr's pleas for everyone to calm down.

Magneto could only shake his head, especially when the noise startled Mastermind into the room.

"Magneto, what's happening? Are we being attacked?"

Before the Master of Magnetism could respond, Gambit smirked, "We've got a new recruit. Honestly, Magneto, could you see her go after she survived those three? That _fille_ will be the ace up our sleeves."

* * *

Back in Bayville, a frantic Pietro seized Lance by the shirt collar and whispered something unintelligible after rushing into the classroom, completely oblivious to the stares from the teacher and students. Fighting for patience, Lance made up an excuse of sick friends and slipped out of the room.

In the hour it took Pietro to calm down to a comprehensible speed, Lance had gathered Freddy and Todd into an alley outside the school where, at last, Pietro broke into an explanation of Gambit's message and Tabby's kidnapping.

"So," Lance spoke slowly, "We either shape up or Gambit comes, I get that. But, how do we get Tabby back?" His eyes narrowed as he rubbed his forehead against another headache.

"Guys…" Pietro whispered, locking eyes with each of them, "All he said was that we'd get her back 'when Magneto decides where to put her.' It was like she might not rejoin the Brotherhood."

"But, Magneto's your dad, right?" Todd looked at him hopefully, "If you talked to him-"

"Magneto only values people by what they can do. Apparently, I haven't proven my worth." Pietro shook his head, expression twisted somewhere between anger and grief, "There's nothing I can do."

Freddy stomped, capturing everyone's attention, "Then we wait? So, let's wait and train. If Magneto won't give us Tabby, then we'll have to get her ourselves."

"From Magneto? Freddy, are you crazy?" Pietro snapped back.

"No, he's right." Lance's eyes began to light up, "We'll get her back. She's one of us, right? We'll play nice until Magneto makes his decision, and, if we don't like it, we'll go get her."

"But, he'll kill us!" Pietro yelped. "Seriously, he'll kill us."

A harsh silence fell over the four until Todd spoke, firmer than the others had ever heard him. "The X-Men, yo. Tabby's still friends with a lot of them, and the Professor would save her." He shook his head, continuing before the others could stop him, "We don't like them, and they don't like us. Trash and snobs don't mix- unless it's Tabby. But, they hate Magneto, too. I know they'd save her."

A long moment passed.

"So," Lance spoke, regaining his unconscious leadership, "We wait and train until Magneto makes up his mind. If he won't give us Tabby back, we tell the X-Men and lead them to his base." He looked at the others.

Todd and Freddy nodded at once, while Pietro stared at them.

"Guys, this is crazy! Insane! You must've lost your minds and your memories!" He stopped. "But it must be contagious. We'll get Tabby back, one way or the other. I'm in, Lance."


	3. Chapter 3

I know I didn't quite meet the goal of posting this up within the day, but it's only an hour past midnight.

And this was edited, though comments and constructive criticism are welcome.

(It's not constructive if you don't suggest something for me to improve that would reasonably fit the rest of the story. Everyone I've encountered here has been constructive, so this may very well be utterly unnecessary. That'd actually be very nice if it was...)

But, thanks to el diablo and XxXFairyQueenXxX for their comments on the last chapter.

* * *

Tabby sprawled on the couch, absently watching an infomercial on the Acolyte's television. She'd been semi-comatose for an hour, and Piotr was beginning to worry.

He stood quietly in the doorway before approaching her, "Tabitha? Are you alright?"

"Hm?" Lazily, Tabby shifted, turning her head to face him and slightly moving her feet from the armrest, "Hey, Coloso? I'm fine. Bored. When's Metal-Man letting me go?"

"…It's Colossus." Piotr shook his head, "I'm not sure. He wants you to be an Acolyte."

"There's no way I'm going to join the Acolytes. We've been over this already!" She flipped the t.v. off and pulled herself to sit up, "I don't handle authority- that's why I left the X-Men. I don't like rules- they get in my way. I don't do bored- I break stuff when I'm bored. I mean, has he seen the Boardinghouse lately? It didn't look that bad when I got there. Explosions and houses don't mix."

"Well… your bombs don't damage metal very well."

Tabby glowered, "I noticed. Otherwise we'd have a charred Magneto. But, sadly, we don't, now do we?" She threw herself back to sprawling on the couch. "I finally find a place I like, and I get kidnapped by a terrorist. Figures."

Uncertain and uncomfortable, Piotr stood awkwardly. Then, he almost fell over as St. John tackled him from behind.

"Piotr! Tabby! Great to see you! Have you seen my Zippo?"

From the hallway, Victor's voice echoed, "Stop running, firebug!"

St. John's face fell, "Can you hide me?"

When Piotr didn't respond immediately, Pyro fell to his knees, pleading, "Come on, mate! The Catman's going to kill me! I can't find my lighter and Magneto's not letting me get my flamethrower off-missions. Catman'll tear me apart! That's a horrible way for a bloke to die!"

"What did you do this time, St. John?" Piotr asked softly, while Tabby laughed, "That was smart, Red."

St. John continued his attempts to look pitiful.

Victor burst into the room, claws bared only to find a horde of cherry bombs flying at his face. As the explosions went off accompanied by Sabertooth's yowls of pain, Tabby snatched St. John and Piotr, pulling them from the common room and down the hall connected to the living quarters.

Both boys were still catching their breath when they realized that they were in Tabby's assigned room. It could only be Tabby's room, because Gambit didn't use his powers recklessly enough to leave burns on metal walls, and no one else could cause scorch marks in quite that pattern.

"Nice, Sheila! But, I thought you were just going to laugh at me." St. John turned to Tabby, only for her to tilt his face to hers, his chin cupped in her hand.

"Of course not, Red. You're too cute to be scarred by Catman." She released him with a laugh, allowing the slightly embarrassed boy to recover himself.

Piotr continued to look uncomfortable and tried to move to the door.

"Do you really want to go out there with Catman on the warpath?" Tabby asked abruptly. "Let Thief-Boy and Metal-Man take care of it."

"I don't know if that's-" Piotr stopped as Sabertooth's infuriated roar echoed through the compound.

St. John looked at him, "Mate, don't go out there. Then I'd just have Gambit to talk to once the Sheila leaves. That'd be so boring! Imagine what I'd do to the base." He paused, considering, "Actually, that'd be pretty cool, but you don't need to die for me to do it."

Sighing somewhat hopelessly, Piotr resigned himself to being a prisoner to the duo's increasing boredom and hoped to escape intact.

* * *

Mastermind shuffled into the room, uncomfortably noting Gambit's presence beside Magneto. But, Gambit only glanced at him before returning his attention to the computer. Magneto turned and nodded for Mastermind to enter.

"Jason, I have a mission for you. There is a mutant that requires certain memories to be altered. Her name is Wanda Maximoff, and she's currently incarcerated in an institution. Gambit will get you to her, and you'll rewrite her memories. Then, she will join us here."

Mastermind paused, "Gambit will get me in?"

"Of course! And, as long as you don't get on Remy's nerves, Remy will get you out, too." Gambit smirked, his back still turned to Mastermind's flinch.

"You leave in an hour." With that, Magneto exited, leaving Mastermind nervously alone with a wickedly smirking Gambit.

* * *

Meanwhile in Bayville, the Brotherhood boys sat in tense silence around their lunch table. Fred ate slowly, his first hamburger still half-eaten with ten minutes left in the lunch period. Lance and Todd ignored their food entirely, while Pietro had never even gotten one.

Across the cafeteria, the X-Men glanced at their rivals in confusion. Scott, however, bordered on glaring, particularly at Lance.

"I want to know what they're up to."

Jean shook her head, "I'm not eavesdropping, Scott. They haven't done anything today."

With a jolt, Scott looked at her guiltily, "I didn't mean for you to use your powers, Jean, I just-"

"I know. They are acting strangely, but they haven't done anything."

Studying the Brotherhood, Kurt spoke, "Guys, they just look stressed."

"What do those hoods have to be stressed about?" Kitty snapped bitterly, "They barely come to school, they don't go to class, they don't care about anything at all!"

Uncomfortably glancing at Quicksilver, Evan murmured, "I've never seen Pietro not eat. His metabolism's too high for him to skip meals."

Scott took a breath, looking to Jean. She didn't notice with her eyes fixed on Fred as he dropped his hamburger back to his plate and his head to his hands.

Kitty peeked at Lance, biting her lip as she noticed dark circles beneath his eyes and his worried attempts to talk to Fred while keeping Pietro and Todd in sight.

Aware of his friends' reactions, Kurt watched a fly buzz unnoticed past Todd, who only sat, staring weakly at the wall.

"Ja, there's something wrong, but I don't think it's anything they're planning."

"Should we, like, talk to them?"

"We should talk to the Professor." Jean tore her eyes away from the dejected boys, "He can advise us on what to do. I don't think they'd appreciate us bothering them right now."

"That sounds good, Jean. The Professor might know if something's happened, too. This just…" Scott struggled to find words, "This isn't right. We'll ask the Professor as soon as school's over."

* * *

Magneto announced his approach, "Tabitha."

Hearing the 'Metal-Man' outside her room, the teen called back, "It's open. Like the way out of here should be."

"Tabitha, you should be more positive. You will be a valuable part of the Acolytes. They are an elite group that-" He stopped, momentarily shocked at the state of the room.

Scorch marks decorated the walls, floor, and ceiling. The floor was littered with glowing cherry bombs. The simple, pragmatic cot currently held two people; Tabby sprawled across the center, Piotr's shoulders serving as her footrest from his position on the floor, and St. John leaning against the wall with his feet dangling off the bed. Piotr looked decidedly traumatized, judging by the shade of red across his face. St. John was talking animatedly, completely oblivious to Magneto's entrance.

Tabby, however, looked directly at the intruding man. "What?"

"Tabitha, what have you reduced two of my Acolytes to?"

"Well, Coloso's a footstool- a very nice one, actually- and Red's a pillow." To demonstrate, she shifted so her head lay directly in the young redhead's lap. He glanced at her, quiet for a moment, before continuing his story.

"They like me better than Catman. That's not tough, though- who'd like that nutcase? Anyway, your Acolytes don't look so elite to me. I'd rather go back to the Brotherhood."

Sensing a weakness, Magneto spoke with obvious annoyance, "Do those ragtag fools mean something to you?"

"I chose to live with them. They obviously aren't that bad."

"Well, I have great use for Quicksilver and Avalanche, but Toad and Blob are useless." Tabby's face grew pale with horror as Magneto continued, "I could easily transfer them to a place with heightened danger. Perhaps Toad first; he won't last long in government labs. If they're such a distraction to you-"

"No!"

Magneto barely kept his balance as he suddenly found himself with an armful of panicking girl, "Don't hurt them. I'll join your stupid Acolytes, but it won't help anything, and you'll just regret it later- everyone does- and then you'll be mad again, but just don't hurt them, even then. Please…"

Before Magneto could respond, Tabby was pulled away from him, safely in Piotr's arms.

"Magneto, you got what you wanted." St. John hissed, "Now leave the Sheila alone."

"Magneto, she'll be loyal. But, please, sir, give her time to calm down." Piotr cradled her, painfully reminded of his own sister and his own recruitment.

"Very well. Tabitha, report with Pyro and Colossus for training tomorrow morning."

Magneto swept from the room, mildly unsettled by the girl's excessive reaction. But, he pushed the concern from his mind as he returned to finalizing the necessary arrangements for Wanda's arrival.

"There will be two teenage girls. That should keep both of them calm. It's for the best."


End file.
